Heated floor panels are commonly employed in passenger aircrafts in the door areas of the cabin, where due to imperfect heat insulation at the doors, in particular in high flight altitudes, the temperature can be considerably lower than the temperature of the rest of the cabin.
Such heated floor panels are known in the art, e.g. from EP 1 046 576 B1, wherein a heater foil made of Kapton or Cupron material is sandwiched between several layers of fiber composite material and aluminum material. In order to control the temperature of the floor panel and as a security measure against overheating of the heater foil the floor panel comprises a temperature control unit including a temperature sensor, as well as an overheating switch. However, such temperature sensor and overheating switch form extensive components inside the floor panel, which may weaken the layered sandwich structure of the floor panel, in particular at the sides and edges of the panel where the temperature sensor and the overheating switch are located. As a consequence, in particular upon impact and continuous loading of the floor panel, the floor panel might delaminate at its sides or edges. Due to such delamination of the floor panel water might enter the floor panel causing short circuits in the heater foil, which in turn may lead to undesired hot spots on the floor panel.
From DE 10 2010 019 777 A1 a heating system for a fluid conductor in an aircraft is known, wherein PTC-heater elements are applied in order to heat the fluid conductor to maintain the fluid in the fluid conductors in the liquid state.